The company has conducted a conference call on 26^th October 2020 to discuss the financial performance for the second quarter ended September 2020 and way forward. Mr. Jamshed Naval Cooper –Managing Director and Mr. Anil Sharma –Chief Financial Officer of the Company addressed the conference call.

Key highlights 

• The Company reported 7% rise in net profit at Rs 62.40 crore despite 2% fall in total income from operation to Rs 513.80 crore for the second quarter ended September 2020 (Q2FY21). EBITDA increased by 2.6% to Rs 126 crore. 

• For Q2FY21, company (HCIL) sales volume declined 2.3% to 1.108 mt. Gross realisation rose 1% to Rs 4629 per tonne. Total cost per tonne was down 0.8% to Rs 2920 per tonne despite increase in fuel cost. EBITDA rose by 5% to Rs 1137 per tonne, supported with higher prices. 

• The Company expects FY21 outlook continues to be subdued due to COVID-19. Working capital –Liquidity crunch in market likely to continue in the near future. For FY21, the Company expects a 10-11% decline in volumes. But this is expected to be followed by a double-digit growth in FY22 aided by the ongoing debottlenecking of units. 

• The company focused more on realisations and profitability in a bid to avoid bad debts in the current scenario. Instead of pushing volumes the company continued to focus on premiumisation. 

• The Company witnessed softness in demand in October due to festive season; expects better demand in November and December. Realisation likely to increase by Rs100/t QoQ in Q3FY21. 

• Pet coke has become 10% expensive over thermal coal due to sharp increase in prices.  

• The Company plans to give loan of Rs 150 crore to Zuari cement, sister concern, by March-2021 at an interest rate of 7.5% for a period of 2 years. 

• The Company Greenfield plant in Gujarat underway for environmental studies and would take 3-4 years for commissioning of plant from the year of getting Environment clearance (EC).